


Ease

by Stingray



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Exhaustion, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Light Angst, M/M, beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 08:52:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17383490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stingray/pseuds/Stingray
Summary: When heat and exhaustion catch up to Matt and he needs some reprieve, Kelly takes care of him.





	1. Chapter 1

All Matt had wanted to do was go home, take a shower, and sleep for the next forty-eight hours. 

They were on the tail end of a hectic, demanding shift and nobody felt like doing anything besides going home and sleeping off the burns and the stitches. But Kelly found Matt just before he left, and said, "Let's go drive out to North Av beach today. C'mon, it'll be like the good old days."

"Today?" Came Matt's weary reply, his face twisting into a wince as he ran a finger through his messy hair.

"Yeah." Kelly nodded with a smile, "You look like you could do with some sun."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Matt chuckled bemusedly, "I haven't had enough heat yet today?"

Kelly's gaze darkened a little as he eyed Matt's gauze-covered forearm. He had to force himself avert his eyes before he pulled Matt into his arms and never let him go. "You should relax and take it easy." Kelly spoke a bit more quietly, but tried to keep his demeanour light and easy.

"And how exactly am I going to do that on a crowded beach with the sun pounding down on me?" Matt raised an eyebrow.

"Listen, yesterday was, so far, the hottest day of the summer. Heat's expected to be the same, if not warmer today." Kelly explained determinedly. "If we go there right away, the beaches won't be too packed yet and the sun won't be too unbearable, and if it is, we can cool off in the water. What do you say?"

"Fine." Matt sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Good," Kelly smiled brightly.

Matt smiled as he slung his bag over his shoulder, giving Kelly one last look before he left the locker room, "If I get a sunburn it's all your fault." He called over his shoulder.

"I'll pick you up in an hour." Kelly replied with a laugh.

 

True to his word, Kelly was waiting in his car in front of Matt's apartment an hour later. 

Kelly had to keep from looking too obviously at the tight t-shirt and well-fitting swim trunks Matt was wearing, as well as the sunglasses that perfectly framed his face and still messy hair.

"How's the burn?" Kelly asked as Matt slipped into the passenger seat of the car, pulling the seatbelt over himself. 

"I'm fine." Matt gave his well trained response instinctively. "It'll heal."

"You sleep much last night?" Kelly asked after a few minutes on the road, when he noticed Matt's heavy lidded eyes out of the corner of his vision. 

"No." He said softly.

Kelly nodded, "Try to sleep some, I'll wake you when we're at the beach."

He had fully expected Matt to immediately decline, but Matt gave a weary nod and readjusted himself so he could rest his head against the side window. 

If Kelly made it to their destination without an accident, he'd be impressed because there wasn't anything more perfect in the entire world than Matt sleeping, and it was very difficult to resist peeking over at him.

Parking was hell and the spot he'd eventually found was a long ways away from the actual beach, but he figured it could be worse.

"Case?" Kelly murmured softly, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "We're here."

"Hmm?" Matt mumbled as he shot up. "What?"

"We're at the beach. Well—not at the beach, but close to it. We'll have to walk a bit."

Matt nodded, trying to get his bearings back.

He seemed to fully come back once they started walking. It was only midmorning but the sun was already bearing down on the citizens of Chicago. The fifteen minute walk to the beach was completely with ease, but Kelly could tell Matt was already exhausted. Hell, he'd been exhausted before he'd even left the firehouse. But Kelly was hoping that today, Matt might be able to let himself relax in a way that he hadn't in a long time.

The beach was already busy, but it wasn't completely packed so they still managed to snag a nice little spot right by the water that was almost a bit secluded from the rest of the crowds.

The set out the towels on the sand and Kelly immediately pulled out the sunscreen, lathering it over his chest and arms and Matt couldn't help but watch. He was engrossed in the way he spread all the white lotion over his body, his skin shining and muscles highlighted better than ever.

"Can you do my back?" Kelly asked a second later, handing Matt the bottle.

"Uh—" Matt nodded, clearing his throat a little, "Yeah. Of course."

Matt took the bottle and squirted some of the lotion into the palm of his hand. He watched as Kelly moved to sit right in front of him, the muscles in his back rippling in a way that very nearly took Matt's breath away. He was almost afraid to touch Kelly, afraid to give into the temptation he'd been fighting for so long. But then again, Kelly _had_ asked him to. 

He could feel Kelly shiver slightly under his fingertips when he'd first laid his sunscreen covered hands on the man's upper back. Matt subconsciously wondered if the shiver was because the sunscreen felt cold, or if it could possible be for another reason. That train of thought, as interesting as it was, was completely overridden by the feeling of Kelly's hot skin beneath his hands. He applied the sunscreen almost mathematically, letting his hands move in distinct patterns as he covered every inch of skin with the lotion.

Matt quietly handed the bottle back to Kelly when he was finished, hoping Kelly wouldn't point out the fact that the application had taken probably twice as long as it should have.

"Thanks." Kelly smiled warmly. "Want me to do yours?"

As nervous and worked up (and slightly excited, he'd admit) as the sunscreen made Matt, he could easily fall back into the normalcy of their friendship. "Thought you said I needed some sun."

Kelly laughed. A sweet, happy sound. 

"Yeah, well, I don't want you to get a sunburn either." Kelly grinned humorously, opening the bottle and putting some sun lotion on his hand. "You said it'd be all my fault if you got one and I can't have something like that weighing on my conscience."

"Alright." Matt chuckled softly. "Fine." He switched places with Kelly and sat between his legs. If he sat much closer than necessary, neither one said anything about it. 

Matt let out a small sigh when Kelly's hands made their initial contact. Kelly's hands were strong. They always had been. They made sure passes across skin that hadn't been touched by another person in quite a while, causing little shivers to shoot up Matt's spine.

It came as a pleasant surprise when Matt felt Kelly press his thumbs into the tight muscles running parallel to his spine. It felt good, well—it hurt, but in a good way and Matt _knew_ , he knew as good as it felt, he couldn't let it continue because it might push him to grab more of a commitment to this crush than was healthy. Might give him hope, false hope. And he didn't need any more of that in his life.

So with a somewhat strangled voice, Matt murmured, "What are you doing?"

"You're tense." Kelly replied softly, an octave lower than Matt would have ever expected. "You're supposed to be relaxing," He added half a minute later as he rubbed a straining knot near Matt's shoulder blade. "But you seem tenser than ever."

Matt couldn't decide if he was currently in heaven or hell. He was faced with everything he could want, but everything still seemed so far away from him. He wished more than anything that he could relax into Kelly's arms, just settle in and enjoy the sand and the sun and the perfect company. But every single fibre of Matt told him that this was all some kind of twisted dream, something he'd wake up from in an instant. He wanted to run, but he also never wanted to move another inch for the rest of eternity. Matt was stuck in this paradox for minutes, long slow minutes, as Kelly carefully worked the musculature of Matt's tense form.

They didn't exchange any other words during that time. They didn't really need to. They wouldn't even know which ones to use if it really came down to it. 

Kelly's hands eventually slowed down and Matt was ready for the dream to fall apart, he was prepared. But by some miracle, Kelly's fingertips stayed resting on Matt's waist, creeping around front to encircle his warm body. He linked his hands together against Matt's abdomen with a possessiveness he didn't even know he'd had. It caused his heart to flare and he couldn't help himself as he shuffled forward a little, so his chest was almost touching Matt's back. There was space between them, but not enough that they didn't feel small waves of heat radiating off each other.

Matt let out a soft sigh, allowing the last bit of tension to leave as he relaxed into the hold. Mentally, something clicked, and any other parts of him that were stubbornly holding back let go completely. _Fuck it._ He said to himself. Even if he'd get punched in the face for it (which, by the way things were going, felt more and more unlikely), it'd be worth the split seconds of pure perfectness. He took a deep breath in, almost dizzily, and finally let himself lean back into Kelly's strong body.

He waited for a shove, an exclamation of disgust, any one of the hundreds of scenarios he'd already pictured, but nothing happened. He didn't know how long he'd been holding his breath, but when Kelly wrapped his arms around him more securely, he felt his heart beat normally again for the first time in eons.

"What is this?" Matt asked, his eyes fluttering closed for a split second, before refocussing on the water lapping up on the shore just a small distance away.

"I don't know." Kelly replied after a moment, "But I kind of like it."

"Kind of?" Matt raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk crossing his lips.

"I really like it." Kelly corrected, his heart pounding loud enough he could hear it in his ears.

"I really like it too." Matt said after a moment, making Kelly's heart go even more berserk.

"Maybe we can do this more often then." Kelly spoke tentatively, almost nervously.

 Kelly, nervous, might be Matt's new favourite thing. "I'd like that," Matt nodded against Kelly's shoulder, causing the man's hold to tighten just slightly.

Kelly, with Matt in his arms, was maybe the most content he'd ever been in his life. They stay seated like that for a long while, then Kelly finally decided to go for a swim to cool off a little bit. Matt decided to stay on land, mostly because he didn't want to get his burn dressings wet, (thinking about that, he dreaded to see the awful tan lines he'd be getting from those).

He was also in a substantial amount of pain. The heat did nothing to soothe the second degree burns on his arm, nor the more minor burns he'd managed to get on his shoulder. Even with the thick gauze covering them, the sun bore down on him with vigour, and his singed flesh was screaming in agony. 

He hid the discomfort well though. As he sat on his towel, watching Kelly enjoy the cool relief of the water, he tried his best to internalize all the hurt. He made every effort to distract himself with whatever he could. Whether it was people-watching, looking at the beautiful view, enjoying the sound of the water. But it became more and more difficult to ignore, and hide, the searing heat and sting of his burns.

When Kelly returned, all dripping and wet, he didn't detect any sign of Matt's situation. He did however, take great pleasure in watching Matt look him over with interest. 

Matt blushed a little when Kelly caught him staring, he wasn't usually so reckless with his admiration of nature's beauty. 

"How was the water?" Matt asked softly as he tilted his head down a little, moving a little to give Kelly room to sit.

"Nice and cool." Kelly replied as he sat down next to the blonde. "You must be burning up over here, you sure you don't want to go for a dip?"

Matt shook his head, "With my luck I'd pick up some bacteria that'd get in through my burns and I'd die of an untreatable infection."

"Little morbid there, don't you think?" Kelly said with a chuckle, gently bumping Matt with his shoulder.

"Kelly, we've pulled dead bodies out of this very water and do you know how much—"

"Okay, okay," Kelly interrupted with a grin, "You have a point, but let's not get into the specifics, alright? I was just swimming in there." He gave his head a shake of disgust.

Matt couldn't help the laugh that tumbled out from deep with his lungs. "Sorry."

Kelly wrapped his arm around Matt's lower back, his eyes alight with happiness, "I suppose I'll forgive you. But I mean, I did take you to this bacteria filled cesspool in the first place, so I think maybe I should be the one apologizing." Kelly tilted his head as he looked from Matt, to the water, and back, "Can I take you out for lunch to make it up to you?"

Matt seemed to think about it for a moment, "I suppose I could allow that." 

"They have some places to eat close to here, you want to check it out?"

Matt nodded, internally relieved at the thought of being out of the heat. "Sounds good to me."

They packed up easily and made the trek over to a food establishment that was almost right on the beach. Matt by that point was a little dizzy, his exhaustion was catching up to him, so Kelly made him sit down in the shade while he ordered something for them to eat. When Kelly brought back two burgers to go, he started to get a little concerned. But Matt wasn't saying anything and seemed pleased by the food, so he told himself to keep an eye on him and let it go for now.

They sat in the shade of a cabana and gradually a little colour began returning to Matt's face and Kelly's worry faded. They joked and they laughed and time became nothing more than a number.

"Want to come over to my place and have a drink?" Kelly asked as they were getting up to leave a long while later.

"I dunno, I mean it'd be nice," Matt said reluctantly, "But I don't think I'd be much fun."

"And why's that?" Kelly smiled with amusement.

"I'm just tired. Last night was uh—well, last night. I'm probably just burning out."

"Just come hang out with me then, sleep on the couch if you need to, just relax, we'll put a movie in. We all know that if you go back home you'll just be trying to finish that reno in your kitchen."

Matt laughed lightly. "Will not."

"You definitely will." Kelly raised an eyebrow. "At least my place is in immaculate shape and you won't be tempted to fix anything but yourself."

"I need to be fixed now?" Matt asked with a tone of curiosity in his voice.

"You're burning out, like you said." Kelly tilted his head as he studied Matt's form.

"Yeah." Matt shrugged, as if it was nothing.

"So let me take care of you today." Kelly replied with a hopeful determination. "When's the last time you let someone take care of _you?"_

Matt appeared to think about it for a moment and nearly surprised himself when he couldn't even remember anyone ever caring about him.

"Alright, that settles it, you're coming home with me." Kelly's smile was a little surprised and sad. He wrapped an arm around Matt, and together they walked back to the car. Matt didn't put up any fight when they drove past Matt's place, nor was he terrible against Kelly opening the passenger door and guiding his sleepy body gently out of the car.


	2. Chapter 2

Kelly hadn't really realized the extent of Matt's exhaustion until he'd gotten him into the car. As he set the air conditioning to full blast, he watched Matt lean over and try to relax against the car door just as he had during the drive up. Kelly, in that moment, wondered if Matt's tiredness was purely a consequence of their long shift, or if there could possibly be an underlying issue.

He knew for sure he wanted to take Matt home with him, regardless. The protectiveness that he'd always harboured for Matt seemed to flare every time he got hurt, and last night was no different. He couldn't do anything about it during the call or after they'd returned to the station, but he could sure as hell do something now, and he knew he'd be a fool to pass that up.

Kelly had always wanted to treat Matt special. He'd always wanted to do so much for him, bring him the world, show him real love. He'd always had this instinct inside him, this nearly primal urge to make him feel the way he deserved, treat him better than anyone else in his life had before. Kelly wanted Matt to know he was cared about, wanted, _needed._

Maybe he could now. Now that there was a very real chance that it wouldn't be met with resistance, maybe he could do everything he wanted to do.

When they finally reached Kelly's place, Matt wasn't much more than a walking zombie. Kelly could tell he was completely past his breaking point already, so he immediately led Matt to the shower. He got the water running, warm not hot, and turned to Matt, who was bracing himself against the counter with a death grip.

"You going to be okay in here?" Kelly asked, "I can help if you—"

"Already trying to get my clothes off, huh?" Matt grated out in an attempt at teasing, but Kelly saw right though him.

Kelly did smile, but he was too worried to laugh. "Something like that."

"How about a bath instead, at least if you pass out you won't crack your head open."

Matt snorted, looking up from his intent stare at the sink drain and glancing at Kelly. "I'll just drown instead."

"I swear you're the reason why I'm going grey early."

"Whatever you say, grandpa." Matt teased, throwing a challenging smirk in Kelly's direction. "Listen, I'll be okay, I'll just get in for five minutes to get the sand off and I'll be fine."

"Alright, but you're leaving the door unlocked." Kelly spoke firmly, "I'll go get you some clothes."

"I guess I should have thought ahead to the likelihood of you kidnapping me and brought a spare set of clothes." Matt thought aloud, smiling to himself.

"Is it kidnapping if you secretly wanted to go?" Kelly asked with a grin, just before he popped out of the bathroom to head to his own bedroom to get clothes.

As Kelly set the small stack of clothes on the counter, he turned his gaze over to Matt. "You sure you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine, Kel." Matt smiled up at him, removing his t-shirt.

"Okay, well I'll leave you to it then." Kelly said, backing out of the room and trying to make his escape before Matt took off any more clothes. He was afraid he might not be able to stop himself from keeping his hands to himself if he did.

In the meantime, Kelly went and quickly showered off in his ensuite bathroom, cleaning himself thoroughly as he thought back to Matt's reminder of the bodies they'd reclaimed from the water. He might stick to swimming in public pools for a while.

He was done before Matt was, so he took some time to get a few things ready. He transformed his pullout couch from its couch form to its bed form. He figured they could still comfortably watch TV but it would also allow Matt to sleep whenever he needed to. He got an ice cold glass of water ready and tidied his kitchen while he waited for the other man to join him. Kelly'd need to make sure Matt stayed hydrated, especially after his sun exposure.

"Hey." A quiet, relaxed voice greeting from behind him.

Kelly had been going around to make sure everything was perfect for Matt. He closed the shades, got an extra blanket in case the apartment's automatic air conditioning was too cool, just little things to make Matt's life a little easier.

"Hey." Kelly replied smoothly, turning to face the man. "You made it."

"Yeah, of course." Matt smiled tiredly, gladly accepting the water Kelly handed him and immediately taking a few sips. 

Matt drank roughly half the water before setting down the glass and wiping his mouth.

"Come on, let's go sit." Kelly nodded toward the couch. "Or lay, that's an option too."

Matt smiled as he looked at the effort that Kelly had gone through to make things comfortable. "Love what you've down with the place." He smiled knowingly, taking a seat on the couch and immediately training his eyes on the tv. 

"Tried to make it relaxing. It's like a relaxation station." Kelly grinned, settling down beside Matt and taking a long drink of his beer.

"Clever." Matt chuckled softly, a yawn escaping through his lax lips.

"I thought so," Kelly paused, noticing Matt's raw burns had been stripped of bandaging and lay open to the air. "Hey uh—do you want those burns dressed?"

"Ah," Matt looked down to where Kelly's eyes were looking, "I was planning to ask you where you kept your first aid stuff."

Kelly stood up with a slight smile and headed to the kitchen. When he returned, Matt was touching his burns, wincing at the contact. Kelly swatted his hand away with a little smile, "Thought you were worried about an infection."

"I am." Matt looked up curiously.

"Well stop touching the open tissue then." Kelly chuckled softly. 

"Fine." Matt replied amusedly, "Better give me some gauze then."

Kelly raised an eyebrow. "How am I going to bandage you if you have the gauze?"

Matt looked up curiously, "Well, you don't have to do it, you've already done enough for me today."

"I want to do it." Kelly countered after a moment. "If that's okay."

Matt nodded slowly, a little surprised. "You sure?"

"Matt, I'm a trained firefighter and EMT, I think I can handle dressing a burn." Kelly teased, messing up Matt's already messy hair.

"Good point." Matt smiled sheepishly.

Kelly took that as an affirmative, and set to work, gently applying a special burn ointment to each individual burn. He carefully cut and applied gauze, wrapping it where he could. "How'd you manage to burn yourself under your gear?" Kelly asked curiously. He hadn't been there on the call, and hadn't really heard what happened. All he knew is that Boden had sent him along with the ambo in order to get checked at the hospital. He was back to duty only an hour after the rest of the team arrived back at the house, catching a ride back with 61.

He seemed fine, a little banged up, but okay all things considered.

"I gave my turnout coat to a sixteen-year-old girl. She'd been drugged and was barely wearing anything and she would've been too exposed to the heat. So I had to." Matt explained tentatively, "Then the house started caving in and I shoved her out the front door but I was a second too late and caught a few pieces of burning drywall. No big deal."

"No big deal." Kelly shook his head in disbelief. "You need to stop being such a hero."

"Can't help it." Matt grinned, wincing as Kelly wrapped gauze over a more tender area.

"You have to, I love bandaging you up, but you're not allowed to get hurt anymore."

"Sure, mom." Matt mocked, smiling when Kelly's eyes lit up in amusement.

"C'mon, you can call me _daddy_." Kelly smirked teasingly, rolling up the remainder of the gauze and placing it back in the kit.

A purely joyful laugh came from Matt's lips, "Hot damn, Severide." 

Kelly chuckled quietly in return, "I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from."

"You always this funny? Or am I just really that tired?" Matt was grinning wildly.

"You're that tired." Kelly nodded, watching Matt for a moment. His eyes were heavily lidded and he was wavering where he sat. "You should lay down, get some sleep."

"You went through the trouble of setting this up so—"

"So that you could finally relax," Kelly smiled gently. A moment later, he moved to get the blankets out from under him, helping Matt to do the same. "C'mon, get under here." 

Matt complied easily, a little shiver passing through him as he did.

Kelly reached out from beneath the blankets and pulled Matt into him. The blonde put up little resistance and was happily snuggling into Kelly's chest a moment later. "Thanks for today."

"It's not over yet." Kelly reminded him.

"If I go to sleep now, I'm not sure I'll wake up until tomorrow," Matt joked, but turned to a more serious note. "You think tomorrow we could figure this out? Whatever this is?"

"Of course." Kelly nodded, kissing the top of Matt's blonde hair, the residual scent of the shampoo lingering on the damp strands. "We'll figure everything out." Kelly replied in a whisper, "But for now, get some sleep."

"Okay." Matt sighed, completely letting himself revel in the comfort of being held so firmly, so strongly. "But what about—" He murmured out, his mind trying to stay awake as much as his body willed it not to. 

He felt Kelly's soft laugh, "You're exhausted, Matt. Close your eyes, just let yourself slow down."

Matt did as he was told, taking a deep breath as the last of his energy left his body.  "Fine." He replied with a smile, feeling the way Kelly's hand came up to cup the side of his face and knowing he was completely done for. "Wake me up in an hour."

"I'll do no such thing." Kelly brushed a thumb across Matt's cheek bone. "You're sleeping as long as your body needs and when you wake up naturally, I'll make you some food, we can have a drink, and then you're going to sleep some more."

"But I have to finish the—"

"Do you even know how to relax?" Kelly laughed, moving his legs to tangle with Matt's, sighing deeply at how comforting the simple action was. 

"No." Matt snuck a hand up to Kelly's shoulder, resting it there to rise and fall in time with the other man's breathing. 

"Well you can start by shutting that perfect mouth of yours—"

"I have a perfect mouth?" Matt smirked, interest piqued.

"You have a perfect everything." Kelly replied confidently, brushing a hand up and down Matt's spine.

Matt made a noise that was akin to a giggle, showcasing how absolutely exhausted he really was. "Now you're just flirting."

"Maybe I am." Kelly whispered with a little laugh. "Is that a problem?"

"Not in the slightest." 

"Good." Kelly waited for Matt to start talking again, but over the next few minutes, the blonde didn't make a sound. When Kelly peeked down at the man, he noticed Matt's eyes were shut tight. And when he focused on the man's slow, steady breathing, he realized he was asleep. Kelly's last smile, before he also dozed off, was full of satisfaction and contentment. He followed Matt into blissful peace and together they slept long and heavy. They eventually woke up from their dreams, but stayed grounded in each other's arms for a while longer, enjoying the sweet, sweet embrace of pure heaven.

 


End file.
